22. ‘Destroying the Bow People’ Sealing

The forts were directly involved in the daily management and administration of goods through a centrally organized sealing system. Each fort had several seals representing different offices (e.g. general, treasury, granary, storeroom etc.). These were stamped on clay tags usually attached to commodities, containers, doors, or documents. This sealing fragment was found at the now flooded fort of Askut, which was probably established by Senusret III in the Middle Kingdom. It is stamped with the seal of khenret (labor prison), which dealt with indentured laborers from Egypt and Nubia. The sealing also records the fort’s programmatic name, Djer-Setju (‘Destroying the Bow People’). Askut’s large granaries had the capacity to feed an estimated 3,200-5,600 people for a year, suggesting it was a major node in the Egyptian grain supply chain and the organization of forced labor in Nubia. Scan the brown QR code below to see how the Askut fort looked like and where the labor prison was.